Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 5 Bucs Who Could Make the NFL Network's Top 100 in 2012

It’s not arrogance or egotism. It’s just natural. We all have an innate human proclivity to wonder how we’re viewed through others’ eyes. And while praise and applause come in different forms and have many geneses—fans, media, coaches—perhaps peer recognition bears the greatest honor.

The NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2011 series featured just that, the top players in the game as voted on by the players themselves.

Two Tampa Bay Buccaneers were included in the Top 100: rookie wide receiver Mike Williams (83rd) quarterback Josh Freeman (86th).

Williams was one of three rookies featured on the list along with Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry.

Perhaps more impressive is that Williams made the list after being selected in the fourth round in 2010 while Suh and Berry were both top-five picks.

Williams fell just 36 yards shy of 1,000 yards as a rookie and set a Buccaneer rookie record with 11 touchdown catches.

Freeman meanwhile, threw only six interceptions (third-fewest in the league) and 25 touchdowns in 2012 as part of a sophomore campaign in which he improved his quarterback rating from 2009 by 36.1 points with his 95.9 rating, sixth in the league behind familiar names like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers and Michael Vick and topping the likes of Peyton Manning, Matt Ryan and Drew Brees in that category.

Brees set the NFL record in QB rating turnaround when he was with the San Diego Chargers, making a 37.3-point improvement from 2003 to 2004. He’s the only quarterback to have a larger QB rating improvement than Freeman from season to season in NFL history.

Barring significant regression from the Buccaneers’ two young stars, they are very likely to make the list in 2012.

But there are five other Buccaneers that have a shot at making the list as well.

Donald Penn, LT

Left tackle Donald Penn's 2010 season started with a six-year contract extension worth $37.2 million in base salary.

It ended at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

Penn was shocked at not making the initial cut after a stellar 2010, but he later made his first-career Pro Bowl as an alternate, replacing the Green Bay Packers' Chad Clifton, who played in the Super Bowl.

Clifton was ranked 99th on the Top 100 of 2011 list, one of six offensive tackles featured. The Miami Dolphins' Jake Long was the highest-ranked tackle at No. 28.

With the continued improvement of Josh Freeman under center and LeGarrette Blount giving the Buccaneers' running game a boost, 2011 likely holds continued success for Penn.

If Blount can amass 1,500 yards on the ground and Penn can help cut down on Freeman's 28 sacks from a year ago, keeping him out of the Top 100 could prove quite difficult.

Gerald McCoy, DT

Sure, he got off to a slow start.

After recording 14.5 sacks in his final three seasons at the University of Oklahoma, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy did not record his first NFL sack until Week 11.

The following week, he recorded the first multi-sack game of his career.

Just a couple of weeks later, his season was cut short by injury.

His three sacks in 2010 put him inside the top 20 among interior defensive linemen. While the Buccaneers did not think they were drafting a 28-tackle, three-sack guy when they took McCoy with the third overall pick in 2010, his impact on the game remains undeniable.

When it comes to defensive tackle, stats are perhaps the least telling of a player's impact on the game.

In his sophomore campaign, McCoy's stats and his impact on the game could significantly increase with the addition of young talent around him in the form of the Buccaneers' 2010 top draft picks, defensive ends Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers and linebacker Mason Foster.

Stats don't lie. But at defensive tackle, they don't quite tell the whole story.

If McCoy can garner double-team attention, allowing others to fly freely to the quarterback and to the ball-carrier in 2011, he could join the other four defensive tackles featured among the NFL Network's Top 100 come 2012.

Fellow defensive tackle Roy Miller (47 tackles, one sack in 2010) could also be considered a dark-horse candidate to crack the Top 100.

LeGarrette Blount, RB

Call him what you will.

Call him a punk. Call him a bonehead. Call him undrafted in 2010 because he wasn't worth the trouble. He heard it all in the wake of his infamous punch of a Boise State player that effectively got him the boot from the University of Oregon.

But now, call him a 1,000-yard rusher. Call him a legitimate No. 1 running back in the NFL. Call him an up-and-coming young star.

Having shown no signs of incompetence or bad decision making off the field since joining the Buccaneers, LeGarrette Blount is making every team the Buccaneers play sorry for not taking a chance on the embattled running back.

Blount averaged five yards per carry and scored six touchdowns in a rookie. He amassed 1,007 rushing yards despite starting just seven games. He showed the ability to run downhill between the tackles and make athletic plays in the open field, displayed in the above video.

Blount has found a home in Tampa Bay, and as the No. 1 option moving forward, he has a legitimate shot at cracking the Top 100 list in 2012.

There were 10 running backs featured in the Top 100 of 2011.

Blount's rookie numbers speak for themselves, and as the full-time starter in 2012, a 1,500-yard, double-digit touchdown season is not out of the question.

Numbers like those would easily solidify him in the Top 100 conversation.

Aqib Talib, CB

His misdeeds are many and well-documented. A pending trial hangs over his head. A potential suspension, looming.

But on the field, few can debate that Aqib Talib can flat out play.

The embattled cornerback has 15 interceptions in his three-year career and finished 2010 tied for fifth in the league with six interceptions (a career high) despite playing in only 11 games (a career low).

Only five cornerbacks were featured on the 2011 Top 100, all ranked within the top 55.

There will certainly be room for one more in 2012 if Talib continues his steady on-field improvement and manages to stay out of jail.

Adrian Clayborn, DE

I almost went with third-round draft pick Mason Foster for this final spot, as many feel he could replace linebacker Barrett Ruud if the Buccaneers do not re-sign the veteran linebacker.

Perhaps I should have.

But with Foster getting so much attention amidst the Ruud contract debate and second-round pick Da'Quan Bowers' knee getting most of the draft-class press, many have forgotten that the Buccaneers drafted a capable pass-rusher in the first round in Adrian Clayborn.

Clayborn was a consensus first-team All-American as a senior at the University of Iowa in 2010 after recording 52 tackles with 3.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss, one forced fumble and a blocked kick.

While his 3.5 sacks were certainly underwhelming for a 6'3'', 275-pound defensive end praised for his pass-rushing ability, he had a solid career as a Hawkeye, totaling 192 tackles with 37.5 tackles for loss, 19 sacks, seven forced fumbles, eight passes defended and three blocked kicks.

His junior year, which saw him tally 70 tackles with 11.5 sacks, 20 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles, put him on the map as a top NFL prospect.

There were 15 defensive ends featured on the Top 100 list for 2011, the most represented position outside of wide receiver, but only three rookies made the list.

Is Clayborn a long shot for the 2012 list? Certainly.

But if Gerald McCoy finds his groove as a pass-rusher and run-stopper and begins drawing the double-teams he was famous for beating at Oklahoma, things could open up for Clayborn to become the first double-digit sacker in Tampa Bay since Simeon Rice.